Broken pieces

Part 7

After Alice stopped crying Luke and her talked some more. He told her some of the funny stories he shared with Michael and she laughed her ass off at most of them. The one thing she didn't understand was, why the hell did their perfect friendship ever ended. She wanted to ask him that so bad but he was in such a good mood that she didn't want to risk upsetting him. So there they were, bonding over Luke's memories of Michael when the doorbell rang. Both, Alice and Luke, were surprised to hear that loud sound. Alice slowly got out of the bed Luke and her were then lying in and motioned Luke to follow her. She did not want to face whoever the hell it was alone. They walked to the door and Alice slowly opened them. There stood Ashton and Calum.

"Hey Ali, and um-hey Luke?"

They were both very confused at the scene playing in front of them, and Alice was equally confused over what the hell they were doing there. She reluctantly let them in and they all went to her room. As Alice sat on the bed, and Luke sat next to her, Ashton and Calum exchanged a confused look. They sat down on a couch, that was opposite from the bed.

"What are you two doing here?"

Before either of them could answer, Alice continued her monologue.

"Michael died over a week ago and ever since the funeral I haven't heard a thing from either of you. If you needed time, you could have told me that. I would understand cause believe me, I needed time too. But I also needed my friends for gods sake. And you two assholes appeared to be the only ones of those that I had and you two just went all ghost on me? That is seriously not okay."

Alice breathed out and felt Luke's hand on her shoulder. His look was telling her that was enough, so she sat back down on her bad and stared at Calum and Ashton with a seriously deadly death stare. They stayed quiet for awhile and the first one to speak was Calum.

"Look Ali, I'm sorry. I didn't know how to deal with everything so I just shut everyone out. I didn't talk to no one till like an hour ago when Ashton came over with a suggestion we go visit you. I know I have completely failed as a friend and I'm sorry."

Alice nodded. She didn't forgive him, but she understood what he meant. If her parents had any love for her in what so ever and would let her stay home he would probably do the same thing. She turned her attention to Ashton and he sighted. Ashton didn't have any die heart apology planned like Calum did. Nor did he have any good excuse.

"I just zoned out. I didn't leave my room because I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want to believe that he was dead. I didn't know how to live my life without him."

Alice was still staring at him, so he continued talking.

"Like I only met you because you were his girlfriend and I had no idea how to talk to you now that he was dead. And Calum...well Michael was sorta the glue that held us together and I didn't know what would happen if I talked to him. I felt lost. And I still do."

"You didn't know how to talk to me? How about as a friend Ashton? Or is it that all I was to you was your best friend's girlfriend?!"

Alice's voice broke at the end of the sentence and she tears poured down her cheeks. And for the third time that day, she found herself sobbing into Luke's chest. Ashton had a guilty expression on his face, as he didn't know either to go and help comfort her or to just sit there and watch her cause she didn't want him near anyway. He decided to just sit there as Calum walked over to Alice and took her hand.

"We're both really sorry we weren't there for you when you needed us. We know it's been even harder on you then it is on us all tho we loved him like a brother."

Alice looked up to Calum and slowly moved from Luke's arms to hug him. He was too sweet to mad at him. As Alice was hugging Calum, Ashton eyed Luke from head to toes. He did not like her hanging out with him. Michael got seriously fucked because of him and he did not want Alice to be in a wild fire like that too. Luke felt Ashton's look, so he stood up and signaled Ashton to follow him. They left Alice and Calum in the room alone and walked into the room next to Alice's. Luke had no idea who's room that was, but Ashton did. It was the third guest bedroom. It was the room him and Calum usually slept at after they got back from a party and decided to crash at Alice's. Her parents didn't like them but to be fair, they didn't like Michael either. And he was there all the time.

"What's your problem Ashton?"

Luke said, a bit of a mean tone in his voice. When Luke and Michael were still friends, he didn't like Ashton much. And over the course of the years that didn't change at all. But to be fair, Ashton never liked Luke either.

"You are my problem. Why are you hanging with Ali?"

Luke grinned and laughed at the question.

"She needed a friend and I was there for her because you weren't."

The answer pissed Ashton off, but he kept his cool. He resisted the undying urge to punch Luke in the face.

"Well now both me and Cal are here so you can go."

Luke ginned his teeth. His anger problems started acting up.

"I am not going anywhere Ashton. I care about Alice and I want to help her. Like Mike did."

"Mike was her boyfriend that's why he was able to help her even a little. She loved him. And don't even try making her fall in love with you."

"I'm not trying to do no such thing for gods sake Ashton. I found her when she passed out yesterday and I got worried. No arterial motives here. I care about her and I want to help her. End of story."

Ashton examined Luke's face. He seemed honest, all tho Ashton knew people knew how to lie so he just looked at Luke deadly serious and said:

"I have my eyes on you Hemmings. If anything like what happened to Mike happens to her I promise you, you are a dead men."

With that Ashton left the room and walked back to Calum and Alice, who were casually chatting like nothing happened minutes before.

"Ali I am sorry you know? The words came out wrong. You are my friend and my best girl friend on top of it all. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I didn't even think about how hard it had to be for you since you-since you loved him."

Alice stood up hugged Ashton.

"I forgive both of your stupid asses. As long as we're all there for each other from now on okay?"

The both nodded and Alice smiled.

In the mean time Luke was standing in the next room and almost had a panic attack. Ashton knew what happened to Michael and he blamed Luke for it? Does Calum know too? What if they tell Alice and she won't give him a chance to explain? He almost fell onto the floor when he heard the door open and saw Alice standing there a little bit confused.

"There you are. Thanks for being there for me today and thanks for giving us some time to talk. Wanna come back to my room now? We can all bond or some shit."

Luke took a deep breath and put a fake smile on his face.

"Sure thing. I love bonding with people."

Alice playfully punched him in the arm as they walked to her room together.